Four Congress MLAs in Gujarat have tendered their resignation to the Assembly Speaker, delivering a blow to the party ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in the State.
The party was hoping to wrest two of the four seats from the State, but will now have to either withdraw one of the two candidates or face defeat in the second seat.
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According to party sources, the high command is likely to take a call on withdrawing one of the candidates.
All three candidates fielded by the ruling BJP — Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin, who is a former Congress leader — are likely to win, along with one candidate of the Congress now.
The legislators who resigned are Somabhai Patel from Limbadi, J.V. Kakadia from Dhari, Pravin Maru from Gadhada and Pradhyumansinh Jadeja from Abdasa.
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They tendered their resignation to Speaker Rajendra Trivedi, who is likely to make an announcement in the Assembly on Monday.
“Four Congress legislators have tendered their resignations on Saturday late night,” Mr. Trivedi said in a statement.
According to insiders, a few more legislators may submit their resignation as severe infighting has besieged the Opposition party that remains fragmented .
On Saturday, fearing poaching of its legislators by the BJP, the Congress shifted more than a dozen of its MLAs to the party-ruled Rajasthan.
More than a dozen legislators were flown to Jaipur on Saturday evening.
